Amazon Developing Cloud Gaming Service

Amazon is reportedly developing their own cloud-based game streaming service and with their global infrastructure, theirs could be the one to watch.

The Information got the scoop, reporting on two independent sources who are close to the plans that state that Amazon is developing a cloud gaming service.

Amazon is already a major video game retailer — recently announcing that gaming is one of the major areas of growth in their sales — and it owns the largest game live-streaming service in the world: Twitch.

The plans for Amazon’s service are in the early stages, with sources saying to The Information that the service isn’t expected to arrive until 2020.

Backing up the claims, The Verge.spotted two joblistings posted by Amazon for engineers to work on cloud gaming.

There is an additional posting looking for an AI engineer who’ll develop “a never before seen kind of game” and another for a lead engineer who will “shape the foundation of an unannounced AAA games business.”

Suggesting that not only are they diving into the world of cloud gaming, but they could also be planning to develop their own games in the future.

The move into cloud gaming makes sense for Amazon, and it has the infrastructure to make it happen and do it well via its Amazon Web Services (AWS).

However, it’s potential competitors have already made great strides in cloud gaming.

Microsoft has already announced its xCloud gaming service powered by their Azure service that is entering beta testing in 2019, which aims to stream games to new and existing Xbox consoles, computers and smartphones.

Google is currently trialling their service Project Stream which enables games to stream in Chrome web browsers.

EA Games recently got on board as well, developing their own game streaming service.

Sony streams games via its streaming service PlayStation Now, available on PlayStation 4 and PC, and it appears that cloud gaming could be a focus for the next generation of PlayStation consoles.

These streaming services promise premium video game streaming on low-end tech, meaning users would not have to purchase expensive new consoles in order to play the latest games.

It has been speculated that if successful, these gaming services could remove the need for consoles entirely.